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Server Abby Crawford follows a robot nicknamed “Android” as it transports a meal to a resident of Providence Point, a Baptist Senior Family community, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, in Scott Township. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)

Pittsburgh has one of the oldest populations in the country, and a strained care sector struggles to support all those in need. At-home innovations, new technologies and workforce campaigns hope to be part of the solution.

By Aakanksha Agarwal
Originally Published by Pittsburgh Public Source

At first glance, the three-story house at 257 Oakland Ave. looks like any aging Pittsburgh home: a narrow red brick façade, steep stairs and low doorways. 

Inside, though, it’s fitted with fall sensors, smart locks, air-quality monitors and prototype mobility aids. 

This is the Healthy Home Lab, a “community laboratory” created by the University of Pittsburgh in 2022 to test how technology and design can help older adults live safely and independently.

Researchers designed the lab to reflect the region’s changing needs and generate practical solutions to aging in place. 

In Pittsburgh, more than 60% of homes were built before 1950 and less than 15% have been built since 1978, resulting in a housing stock hardly optimized for aging residents. According to a 2019 report by the U.S. Census Bureau, nationally, only 2 in 5 homes are fitted with basic aging-ready features, such as a step-free entryway and a bedroom and full bathroom on the first floor.

Pittsburgh’s demographic reality makes these experiments more than academic. Pennsylvania’s population includes 3.5 million people over age 60. That’s 27% of residents, compared to 24% nationwide. Statewide, 14% of residents are age 70 or older—higher than the national share of about 12%.

Examples of adaptive silverware sit on the kitchen counter of Pitt’s Healthy Home Laboratory on Oct. 14. (Photo by Alex Jurkuta/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)

These numbers are projected to rise sharply as baby boomers age. Meanwhile, the state’s long-term-care system is under strain. Since 2019, the number of licensed nursing homes has dropped from 695 to 669, and more than half now limit admissions due to staffing shortages.

With a shrinking care workforce and an aging housing stock, the region faces mounting pressure to help older adults live safely, affordably and with dignity. 

Across Western Pennsylvania, researchers, health systems and nonprofits are testing solutions — from smart-home labs and 3-D-printed devices to dining-room robots and statewide workforce campaigns — and redefining what it means to grow old here.

Inside the Healthy Home Lab

The Healthy Home Lab team tests both low-tech and high-tech fixes: weighted utensils that reduce strain during meals, voice-controlled lighting that minimizes falls and a simple tension-mounted pole — jokingly dubbed the “stripper pole” — that helps people steady themselves in the middle of a room where wall grab bars aren’t an option. “We try to change the environment or the way people do activities,” said Dr. Pamela Toto, an occupational therapist and professor in Pitt’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences who leads the Oakland lab, “so that they can keep doing them themselves — not rely on someone else to do them.”

A VivaLift! recliner sits extended in the living room of Pitt’s Healthy Home Laboratory on Oct. 14. VivaLift! recliners and other mobility solutions help older and disabled people to move around their homes. (Photo by Alex Jurkuta/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)

Engineers, social workers and public health researchers observe how people navigate steep stairs, narrow halls and low furniture.

Findings from the Healthy Home Lab are shared with housing providers, aging agencies and technology partners who pilot, deploy or commercialize them.

The lab challenges a medical culture built on “fixing the person.” As Toto puts it, not every limitation can be reversed, nor does every older adult want surgery or aggressive treatment. Instead, her lab focuses on adapting the home — and the habits within it — to preserve autonomy, cognition and dignity. 

She often reminds students that independence isn’t only physical: sometimes it’s about mental energy. “It’s about making tasks easier on your joints,” she said, “but also on your brain.”

Modifications for ease and accessibility shouldn’t override familiarity, though. A low couch stays low because “most people have low couches.” Removing low-rise furniture like coffee tables is commonly recommended to clear hazard paths, yet sudden changes to a lifelong layout may undo a person’s tacit cues. “If someone has had that table for 40 years,” Toto said, “they may use it as a guidepost. Moving it could actually cause a fall.”

The stakes are high. Falls are the leading cause of injury among adults 65 and older, affecting 1 in 4 people in that range each year. A 2024 study found that non-fatal falls among older adults cost about $80 billion in U.S. healthcare spending in 2020. Every fall prevented and every hospital visit avoided eases pressure on the system.

Lighting is another focus. While many older adults keep rooms dim to save energy or out of habit, Toto said, the Oakland Avenue house is wired with smart bulbs and voice-operated Alexa Routines. 

The team found that older adults can benefit from smart home systems if they’re motivated and the devices work consistently. “You usually get one shot,” Toto said. “If the technology fails, people lose confidence and think they’re too old to learn. So it has to work the first time.”

Innovation in accessibility

At the Inglis Innovation Center Pittsburgh in Bellevue, a day’s work can mean setting up Alexa systems or Ring doorbells, printing grips for arthritic hands, or adjusting smartphone text size. Or it can be more advanced — installing a thermostat that learns daily rhythms or a sensor that quietly alerts a caregiver.

“A lot of it is about demystifying tech,” said Leah Marmo‑Rainey, director of innovation and strategic partnerships for the center. “Once someone sees they can control their lights or answer a call with their voice, that fear turns into curiosity.”

The center also 3-D prints custom devices — utensil grips, styluses, wheelchair mounts — often designed on the spot with clients. These are produced quickly and affordably via the center’s 3-D printing lab, a critical benefit for people on fixed incomes.

Beyond gadgets, the center coordinates home modifications through a HUD-funded program, installing grab bars, reinforcing railings and building ramps.

Pennsylvania is among the nation’s oldest states, and the imbalance between aging residents and working-age adults creates gaps in care. (Photo by Nate Smallwood/Age-Friendly Pittsburgh)

“Technology and construction might look like different worlds,” Marmo-Rainey said, “but both are about the same thing: dignity, safety and staying where you belong.”

Funded by Highmark Wholecare and launched in 2023, the center helps entrepreneurs and residents prototype adaptive devices, learn digital fabrication and access $5,000 awards through the Inglis Impact Accelerator. It’s part of the 150-year-old Inglis Foundation, a Philadelphia nonprofit serving people with physical disabilities, including older adults.

Dyann Roth, president and CEO, sees the Pittsburgh center as part of a statewide effort linking aging services with health care and technology.

“We’re helping people feel safer, more connected, and more confident in their homes,” Roth said. “Technology isn’t the end goal, it’s the tool that makes independence possible.”

Pennsylvania faces a growing shortage of direct-care workers. The Inglis model helps fill that gap by training technicians and home-modification specialists who extend the reach of traditional caregiving.

Roth expects that role to grow as telehealth, remote sensors and AI-driven monitoring advance.

“We’re already helping people use sensors that detect motion or sleep disruptions,” she said. “If patterns change, their care team gets alerted. It’s about prevention and peace of mind without sacrificing privacy.”

Robots at the dinner table

Not all innovation happens in labs. At Baptist Senior Family in Providence Point, it happens at the dinner table.

The faith-based nonprofit operates Providence Point in Scott Township and Baptist Manor in Mt. Lebanon, serving both independent and assisted-living residents. Since 1910 it has championed independence and dignity for aging residents. 

“After the pandemic, we realized we had to think differently about how to keep that mission alive,” said Michelle LoBello, executive director.

That reflection led to a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute called VoicePilot, which explored whether a feeding robot named Obi could respond naturally to voice commands. The collaboration won LeadingAge Pennsylvania’s 2025 Innovation of the Year Award.

“Our goal,” said Akhil Padmanabha, a Ph.D. graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, who led the study, “was to make interaction feel closer to how someone might communicate with a human caregiver.”

Retired engineers Bill and Robin Jordan, both 74, attend a technology class at Baptist Senior Family’s Providence Point community building as members of its resident technology committee, Nov. 5. The Jordans participated in studies with Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute’s VoicePilot technology, which explored whether a feeding robot named Obi could respond naturally to voice commands. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)

Wife and husband Robin and Bill Jordan, both 74, residents of Providence Point and former Bell Labs engineers, were among the participants. During the sessions, the Jordans sat with three bowls of food while Obi — a tabletop robot with a spoon placed into its mechanical clamp — responded to their voice commands.

“We’d ask for a specific dish — say ‘feed me the vegetables’ — and the robot would select the right bowl,” Bill Jordan said.

They laughed while recalling Obi’s quirks. “It could bring yogurt or fruit,” Robin said, “but not both on the same spoonful.”

Despite those limitations, they said they saw promise. “You could immediately imagine how helpful it would be for someone with Parkinson’s or a tremor who can still speak clearly,” Bill said. “It’s early-stage research, but you can see the path to success.”

The experience, they say, went both ways. “They were observing us carefully,” Robin said, “but we were also observing them … how young engineers think about aging.”

As members of Providence Point’s resident technology committee, the Jordans now help staff identify ways digital tools can enhance daily life. Bill said that robots don’t replace people but rather complement their work, giving caregivers more time to connect with residents instead of focusing on routine tasks.

In the dining room, service robots glide between tables, ferrying meals and occasionally singing birthday songs. Introduced during pandemic staffing shortages, they’ve stayed because residents enjoy them — and staff say they help.

“When the robots deliver plates,” LoBello said, “our servers can focus on what really matters: Conversation, hospitality, the human connection.”

Bridging technology and the workforce

For all the promise of new tools and adaptive homes, care still depends on caregivers, aides and licensed staff who form the backbone of elder services. Recruiting and keeping them remains one of the field’s hardest challenges.

Across Pennsylvania, providers report leaving rooms empty not for lack of residents, but for lack of staff. The shortage ripples through hospitals and families alike, delaying discharges and widening care gaps.

For LeadingAge PA, which represents hundreds of nonprofit providers and tens of thousands of caregivers, the issue isn’t just hiring — it’s perception.

“Aging services have been struggling with the workforce since before the pandemic,” said Erin McDermott, director of workforce solutions at LeadingAge, which partners with colleges, training programs and the Commonwealth Charter Academy to introduce students to careers in aging services before they graduate. “Careers to Love was created to educate people about what’s possible here, and connect them directly to real opportunities.”

The Careers to Love campaign lists openings across nursing, therapy, hospitality, marketing and facility maintenance.  Proceeds of each job posting feed back into the LeadingAge PA Foundation to fund scholarships and training for future workers.

“Every posting today helps pay for someone’s education tomorrow,” McDermott said.

Tom Earley, co-owner of Absolute Value Academy, teaches a technology class at Baptist Senior Family’s Providence Point community building on Nov. 5, in Scott Township. The class had to move to the chapel accommodate a growing number of residents eager to improve their lives through technology. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/Pittsburgh’s Public Source)

Pennsylvania is among the nation’s oldest states, and the imbalance between aging residents and working-age adults has become what McDermott calls “an access-to-care issue.”

“We’re seeing communities that have rooms available but can’t safely accept new residents at current staffing levels,” she explains.

The campaign seeks to highlight how a career in senior care can be an unexpected calling, as it was for Jessica Hurley. She joined Presbyterian SeniorCare Network’s Oakmont campus a decade ago as a personal care assistant, expecting little more than a steady paycheck. 

But the human connection kept her there. “I’ve always had a soft spot for older adults,” Hurley said. “They’re full of wisdom and stories. You have to be patient and compassionate, not everyone can do that, but for me, it feels like where I’m meant to be.”

Today, Hurley works as a licensed practical nurse at Woodside Place of Oakmont. She advanced through the network’s LPN tuition forgiveness program, which paid her tuition, maintained her health insurance, and let her keep benefits while working part-time. “I could have gone anywhere in the network,” Hurley said, “but I wanted to stay with my residents. They’re my people.”

Stories like hers echo across the field. “So many people tell me this wasn’t their first choice — and now they can’t imagine being anywhere else,” McDermott said.

“We’re connecting motivated people to meaningful work,” McDermott said. “Because the future of aging well isn’t just about technology or buildings. It’s about the people who make those things matter.”

Aakanksha Agarwal is a wine, travel, and lifestyle journalist. Originally of India and a former Bollywood stylist, she now writes in Pittsburgh, exploring intersections of food, culture and community around a global perspective. She can be reached at aakanksha.agarwal1988@gmail.com. 

This story was fact-checked by Galen Stolee.